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Diabetes

Almost everyone knows someone who has diabetes. An estimated 16 million people in the United States have diabetes mellitus—which is a serious lifelong condition. About one-third of these 16 million people have not been diagnosed. Each year, about 800,000 people are diagnosed with diabetes.(NIDDK)

Figure 1--Prevalence of diabetes in men and women in the U.S. population age 20 years or older, based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III. Diabetes includes previously diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes defined by fasting plasma glucose greater than or equal to 126 mg/dL. (age-std=age-standardized)

What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism—the way our bodies use digested food for growth and energy. Most of the food we eat is broken down into glucose, the form of sugar in the blood. Glucose is the main source of fuel for the body.
After digestion, glucose passes into the bloodstream, where it is used by cells for growth and energy. For glucose to get into cells, insulin must be present. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, a large gland behind the stomach.

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Insulin is produced in the pancreas, an organ that sits behind your stomach.

When we eat, the pancreas is automatically supposed to produce the right amount of insulin to move glucose from blood into our cells. In people who have diabetes, the pancreas either produces little or no insulin, or the cells do not respond in the right way to the insulin that is produced. Glucose builds up in the blood, overflows into the urine, and passes out of the body.
Therefore, the body loses its main source of fuel even though the blood contains large amounts of glucose.
Compare the human body to a car. To start a car, you must turn the key to move the gas to the engine. Similarly, the glucose in your bloodstream cannot go into the cells by itself. The pancreas releases a substance called insulin into the blood, which serves as the helper, or the...